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Established in 2001, CowTime is a national industry project that makes milking easier and more efficient for dairy farmers... Read More
 What is the CowTime project?
Established in 2001, CowTime is a national industry project that makes milking easier and more efficient for dairy farmers.
It enables farmers to review their entire milking process, from when the cows leave the paddock to cleaning up the milking shed, in order to determine what works effectively and what doesn't. It then identifies cost-effective changes that farmers can make to improve their milking practices, as well as their use of labour and farm productivity.
To make milking more efficient, CowTime's goals are to:
- Improve the use of labour during milking by 20 per cent
- Make milking an easier, safer, more pleasant and a more attractive occupation
- Improve cow comfortand stock-handling during milking
- Promote energy efficient practices throughout milking
What benefits does CowTime deliver?
CowTime has prompted many dairy farmers to make major improvements to their milking routines and has delivered the following benefits:
- Saved time. Reducing the amount of time spent milking has enabled farmers to use labour more effectively and spend time doing other things. Reducing milking by at least 20 minutes will save farmers about 5 hours a week and 20 hours a month.
- Reduced stress. This has made milking a more pleasant, easier and safer experience.
- Saved money. Making milking more efficient has significantly improved farm profitability. The cost of milking on Australian farms varies from 3.8 to 8 cents/litre of milk. But a saving of 1cent/lire will save Australia's dairy farmers about $108 million annually.
What tools and resources does CowTime offer?
CowTime has developed these cost-effective practical and web-based tools to help dairy darmers review and improve their milking systems:
CowTime Testimonials
 'Saved a day a week'
Ken Bryant & Ann Hodgen
Finley, NSW
"CowTime helped us save a day's work a week, at virtually no cost."
CowTime product: Milking Monitor via web (did not attend any CowTime activity).
Changes made: let the cows come in by themselves; purchased a new hose nozzle for $45.
Time saved: 1.5 hours a day.
Improvement: (Milking Monitor) 19% improvement in labour efficiency.
 'Shaken to our senses'
Cherryle & Nigel Pedley
NW Tasmania
“The Shed Shake-up was like being shaken to our senses. It made us stop blaming the dairy (which we couldn’t change) and re-think the way we handled the cows – which we could change.”
CowTime product: Shed Shake-up.
Changes made: replaced a wall with a metal bar (<$600); threw away the polypipe; stopped going out into the yard.
Time saved: 30 minutes/milking (1hr/day).
Improvement: stress levels have plummeted.
Milking Monitor: 40% improvement in labour efficiency, putting them in top 10% of swingover dairies.
 'Grumpy old man'
Bruce Faichney
NW Tasmania
“I’d become a bit of a grumpy old man. The Shed Shake-up helped me change my attitude. I’ve saved 20 minutes every milking and it didn’t cost a cent!”
CowTime product: Shed Shake-up.
Changes made: threw away the polypipe, stopped shouting at the cows; resisted going into yard and when did, entered from the back.
Time saved: 20 minutes/milking (40 mins/day).
Improvement: (Milking Monitor) 18% improvement in labour efficiency.
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